


Free hugs

by Fabilous_Fabi



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Cuddling, Fluff, Hugging, M/M, Touch-Starved, Touch-Starved Keith, shy keith
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-22
Updated: 2017-10-28
Packaged: 2019-01-21 13:49:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,436
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12459096
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fabilous_Fabi/pseuds/Fabilous_Fabi
Summary: Lance has come to realize that only him and Hunk hug. He decides to offer everyone free hugs. Keith is touch starved and ends up asking Lance for a hug. Things happen.ORa touch-starved Keith Au no one asked for.





	1. Announcement

“You know what I miss the most about Earth, Hunk?” Lance asks.

 

Lance and Hunk were in the kitchen, Hunk trying out some things to see if he could make any food that resembled Earth food. Lance was just talking and testing the food. Hunk takes out something that looks like ice cream. Lance looks at it with an impressed face.

 

“Um, probably being able to sleep in on a Saturday and Sunday morning,” Hunk answers while giving Lance a spoonful of the look-alike ice cream. Lance tastes it, expecting it to taste like goo.

 

“Three things; one, this tastes just like vanilla ice cream and it is absolutely amazing. Two, yeah, gotta agree with you, that was nice. Three, I miss my mom’s hugs. Listen, I love your hugs, but my mom just had that comfort only a mother can give,” Lance says after swallowing the space ice cream.

 

“You’re right. Wohoooo for ice cream. Yeah, I get that, I miss my sister’s hugs the most in all honesty. She had so much love in them, you know?” Hunk says and sighs when Lance nods in understanding. Then Lance’s eyes widen horror and Hunk starts to panic.

 

“Dude! Do you think the others miss hugs? Like, we’ve been here for months and we’re the only ones who hug. This has to change!” Lance exclaims. Hunk smiles fondly.

 

Hunk was aware of how Lance had a big family and was a big brother. He clearly took care of his siblings a lot, as a third parent. Not only did he make sure everyone wasn’t too stressed out, and if they were, he’d make jokes to make them at least crack a smile. Hunk knew about Lance’s homesickness and how he wished to be alone when it was too hard, despite to how much he wanted to be there for him.

 

“You could offer free hugs 24/7,” Hunk suggests as a joke, but then Lance’s eyes light up and he hugs Hunk.

 

“That’s a great idea. I’ll tell them during dinner,” Lance says.

 

**Later**

“So… Paladins, anything interesting any of you would like to share?” Allura asks and looks at everyone.

 

Lance’s face lights up and he stands up.

“I’m offering free hugs!” he exclaims with a big smile. When he sees the confused looks on everyone’s faces, except Hunk’s of course, he continuous “Me and Hunk were talking and I realized how we’re the only ones who hug and we don’t know if you guys miss hugs. So! I’m offering free hugs 24/7,” he finishes and waits for someone to speak.

 

“Um, okay?” Pidge says and shrugs, “I’ll take one after eating. Maybe.”

 

“Yeah. That’s very nice of you Lance,” Shiro says and smiles.

 

Later, Pidge ends up hugging Lance after eating and goes to “bed” afterward. Shiro hugged him too. Allura asked about it and ended up getting a hug as well.

 

Hunk hugged him just like always. The only ones who hadn’t hugged Lance were Keith and Coran. Coran had claimed he found it too odd, the audacity, but Keith hadn’t spoken a word since Lance had announced he was allowing people to hug him 24/7.

 

As Lance starts to walk into his room, he stops when he hears a soft “wait.”

 

He turns around and is surprised to find Keith behind him. Keith looks at him in the eyes, but quickly glances away and blushes. But, eventually, starts to walk towards Lance when he offers a small smile.

 

“What’s up?” Lance asks in a calm and soft voice when Keith stops in front of him, inside his room. Back on Earth, he had a sister who was shy and had trouble speaking her mind. Keith is kinda like her, he clearly had trouble speaking his mind with others. When he clearly wanted to speak his mind, he would get like this. Silently hesitant and preferred being alone.

 

“Um… I just… wanted…” Keith starts, with the red traveling throughout his face. He looks down but then stares at Lance with an almost pleading look. Lance raises an eyebrow, trying to figure out what Keith was trying to tell him.

 

“I know, I just… this is embarrassing... I wanted… hug…” Keith mumbles “but I get it if you don’t want to give me one, I just…. Gosh, why am I here? You know what just forget it,” then Keith starts to leave, but Lance grabs his arm and hugs him.

 

“Hey, I offered hugs to everyone, including you,” Lance mumbles and starts rubbing Keith’s back to try and wear off the shock the red paladin had.

 

Slowly, Keith puts his arms around Lance and relaxes. He rests his head on Lance’s shoulder and hums in satisfaction. They stay like that for a while, both enjoying it, though they’d never admit it.

 

When Lance tries to pull away, Keith whines in protest without meaning to, but before he can take it back, Lance chuckles.

 

“As much I love hugging, we need sleep and my feet are getting tired,” Lance says and pushes Keith softly away till they’re arm’s width away. Keith drops his arms down on his side and looks to the side while blushing.

 

“Yeah… Um…” Keith whispers then step back. He glances at Lance before looking at the floor, “thank you, I… um… I really needed that…”

 

Lance smiles and shoots him a curious look “Oh? Really, I thought you hated physical contact. Turns out you’re like a cat.”

 

“I’m not a cat. I’m just touch-starved.” Keith deadpans and Lance looks at him in shock.

 

“What? Really?” Keith nods shyly, slightly startled by Lance’s reaction “What’s it like?”

 

“Well, it’s… I don’t know. It’s not as bad as it was before. Um… Shiro knows and we hug every morning, but… I’m still like this… It’s… like I need to be touched or else I end up going crazy, being more stressed, and as well as being less focused. My skin gets… my skin aches sometimes when I wake up. Like it’s been too long since it’s been touched. If I stay like that for a while, it starts to feel better. I get used to it.” Keith says and Lance nods at him.

 

“Come on, sit with me,” Lance whispers and they sit next to each other on Lance’s bed.

 

After talking about how being touch-starved is for Keith, they move on to Lance’s sisters, and much more. They moved on and on. They talked about everything and anything until they accidentally fall asleep, with Lance’s arm around Keith’s waist and Keith’s head on Lance’s chest.

 

**Morning**

Keith grumbles when something moves from under him. He was too warm. So cozy.

 

“Stop… too nice… too comfy…” Keith mumbles and hugs whatever was giving off this warmth.

 

“Keith…?” A voice below him asks hesitantly.

 

A voice.

 

Below him.

 

That woke Keith up.

 

He gets up and looks at the bed. There was Lance, sitting up while scratching his neck.

 

“Um… yeah… I guess we fell asleep…” Lance says and looks at his pillow while blushing.

 

“I guess. Sorry…” Keith mumbles and blushes. He looks at the floor with sudden great interest.

 

“Hey. It’s fine. It… um… it was nice….” Lance says and looks at Keith shyly. Keith blushes and looks at Lance.

 

“Yeah… it was… really nice…” Keith mumbles.

 

"Um... we can... if you want... we can fall asleep... together again if you want... I mean, it's completely fine if you don't but I'm just saying, we could if you wanted to" Lance rushes out, feeling the heat rush throughout his face.

 

“I’ll keep that in mind… Thanks… See you at breakfast?” Keith says and smiles.

 


	2. That night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> That night Keith finds himself at Lance's room once more.

That night(at least what they consider “night” in space), Keith stands in front of Lance’s door, thinking about Lance’s second offer.

 

That whole day, he couldn’t stop thinking about how nice he felt that morning. He was… safe and warm. He loved it and was definitely craving it. There was no doubt about that.  He was quite happy that Lance said he could come back and do it again, but he was scared. Had it been a joke? Was he just messing around? Should he even do it? Had he changed his mind? 

 

"Keith?" A voice says. Keith quickly looks at the direction of the voice and sighs in relief. It was just Lance.

 

"Um. Hi..." Keith says and looks at Lance shyly. 

 

"Is there a reason to why you're standing in front of my door....?" Lance says with a small smile. 

 

"Um... I just... this morning... you said..." Keith begins and looks down at the floor. 

 

"This morning... oh yeah. So you came here for cuddles huh? You really are a cat" Lance says and smiles fondly.

 

"I'm not a cat!" Keith says and pouts. 

 

Lance walks into his room and waves at Keith to come in. He raises an eyebrow when he sees that Keith was not wearing pajamas.

 

"Keith... go change into pajamas. There's no way in hell I'm letting you sleep with me while wearing day clothes." Lance says and points to the door. "Go change."

 

"But it's easier to start the day... I don't have to worry about getting dressed and taking unnecessary time" Keith whines and frowns. 

 

"Change or no cuddles," Lance says and crosses his arms. Keith huffs in annoyance and leaves.

 

When the door shuts Lance lets out a shaky breath. 

 

This was... unusual. He wasn't used to Keith actually coming up to him for... anything! It was nice for a change. In a way. He was glad that Keith had actually taken up the stupid offer he made that morning. Really helped him calm down. He freaked out when he said they could sleep together again. And this... it's so casual. As if it were normal. But no. No, my friend, this was all but normal. Sleeping with your long-time crush is not normal. 

 

He never thought this could happen, but here he was. 

 

Lance lets out another shaky breath and runs a hand through his hair.

 

"What have I done...?" Lance asks to himself. He shakes his head and changes into his pajamas. 

 

"This feels... weird," Keith says as he walks into Lance's room. 

 

Keith was wearing a V-shaped tank top with some shorts. The tank top was purple, which matched with his eyes. He was rubbing his arms out of discomfort.

 

"Weird in what way? You look good." Lance says and pauses. He blushes and rushes out "I mean, it looks comfortable and you're just sleeping so...” 

 

"Well, it is comfortable..." Keith says and shrugs. He climbs into bed and stares at Lance, who was standing up. "Well, are we sleeping or...?"

 

"Sleep. Right." Lance says and lays down next to Keith.

 

They lay on their sides while staring at each other. With the lights out, it was hard to see, but both of them had pink on their cheeks. 

 

Lance sighs and pulls Keith closer and puts his arms around his waist.

 

"Goodnight Keith," Lance mumbles and closes his eyes.

 

After somewhat calming his racing heartbeat down, Keith wraps his arms around Lance and puts his ear above where Lance's heart is. 

 

They both fall asleep content. Neither of them would ever admit it, but they love it.

 

They keep on doing it for the next few nights. It was a nice arrangement, Keith wouldn't wake up with his skin aching uncomfortably. Lance loved it. It reminded him of home and how when his siblings had nightmares they would go to his room and climb into bed with him. 

 

The only bad thing about it was that everyone in the ship knew. Coran, Shiro, and Allura didn't really care, but Pidge and Hunk... Pidge would constantly tease both of them, while Hunk would occasionally tease Lance for it. 

 

"Hunk! It's just sleeping! He doesn't even like me that way!" Lance says and hides his red face behind his hand.

 

"You wish it was more though." Hunk points out and Lance sighs.

 

"Yeah. I know, but like... I doubt he actually likes me the way I like him," Lance says and frowns.

 

"I'm pretty sure he does," Hunk says and smiles. "I don't know him very well, but by the way that he acts around you and how he looks at you I can tell he cares about you. Besides, that guy is pretty shy so if he's opening up to you, he clearly trusts you."

 

"Maybe... anyway, he's probably waiting for me. Goodnight Hunk." Lance says and hugs him. "Thank you, buddy."

 

"It's nothing. Goodnight dude!" Hunk says and hugs him back.

 

When Lance gets to his room, he finds Keith sitting on his bed, looking at the console that Lance had in his room.

 

"Oh. Hi." Keith says when Lance walks into the room. Keith shows a small smile that Lance had grown to recognize as relief and slight happiness. 

 

"Hey" Lance greets and looks for his pajamas. He goes to the bathroom to change. 

 

Keith lays down on the bed and stares at the ceiling. 

 

Lance comes back and lays down next to Keith, who immediately cuddles up to him. Lance holds back a giggle to how Keith acts like a cat and holds him. 

 

"Goodnight," Lance whispers and kisses Keith's temple without realizing it. Lance's widen in shock to what he did and his face starts to burn. Before he can say a word, Keith talks.

 

"Um... g-goodnight." Keith stutters and hides his face in Lance's shoulder.

 

For a minute or two, Lance debates on whether to say sorry or not. He closes his eyes and goes to sleep without uttering a word. 

 

If he talked, it might not become a regular thing, which he wanted. 

 

He wondered if Keith wanted it too since he didn't question it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, I hope you all enjoyed this chapter! I guess this is sorta set before season 4. This was certainly fun to write! :) There is an endgame to all this btw! I'll update soon! This adventure of fluffiness is not over! :3
> 
> Tumblr: FabilousFabi


	3. Talki-complaining about it.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Woohoo for Hunk and Pidge
> 
> Enjoy :)

So, kissing on cheeks and temples became a thing.

 

The morning they woke up, Keith kissed Lance's cheek with a small, shy smile and whispered "good morning."

 

Lance ended up (naturally) complaining to Hunk about it.

 

"Hunk! It is so not fair! Like how can he be so adorable! Also waking up like that was so a dream! But I can tell it's not because he keeps glancing at my cheek and blushing. Which is super adorable! He shouldn't be this adorable," Lance says and blushes when he sees Hunk's fond smile. "What?"

 

Hunk and Lance were chilling in the lounge while drinking milkshakes.

 

"You've got it bad dude... so bad. I might say it's lo-" Hunk starts but is interrupted by Lance throwing a pillow at him.

 

"Don't say it! It's true, but gosh don't say it out loud!" Lance says and looks at the milkshake he had been drinking not long ago.

 

"At least you're not in denial anymore," Hunk says and Lance shrugs and sighs.

 

"This might've been a mistake. Like, what if he finds out and thinks I've been taking advantage of him?!? Oh my god, HUNK HE WILL HATE ME FOREVER!" Lance yells and looks at Hunk with fear in his eyes.

 

"Hey! Calm down! You're not taking advantage of him. He clearly likes the cuddles and apparently the "platonic" kissing! He won't hate you." Hunk says and hugs him. Lance immediately hugs him back.

 

"You really think so?" Lance asks and lets go of him when he feels Hunk nod. "Thanks, buddy. You're a really good friend."

 

"It's no problem. Now, I'm gonna go talk to Pidge about something. Bye Lance" Hunk says and gets up.

 

"Later Hunk!" Lance says.

 

~~~~

 

Keith and Pidge had slowly become like brother and sister.

It started with Pidge asking him about his heritage and if he had a different anatomy because of him being half-galra.

 

So naturally, they would complain about things to each other. Which is what Keith was doing now.

 

"He kissed my temple!!! And I'm an idiot Pidge! I kissed his cheek this morning! Pidge, why do these happen to me?" Keith exclaims and stares at the device Pidge was making.

 

"Because you two are pining idiots," Pidge says and rolls her eyes when Keith groans in annoyance.

 

"It's just me pining and it's not even pining!" Keith says while pouting.

 

"You're a liar and you know it. It's BOTH of you pining. It's so obvious. But you're both too stupid to see it," Pidge says while groaning in annoyance then smiles sympathetically "I can tell he loves you too. It won't affect Voltron like you think it might. Things won't go bad." She finishes with a soft voice and smile.

 

"Thank you Pidge. I'll think about it" Keith says and smiles back.

 

~~~

 

Lance sighs and stares at the door while biting his lip. It was time to sleep and Keith had gone to change into his pajamas. 

 

There was nothing good about this other than the fact that both of them got a good night’s sleep. He knew it wasn’t a good idea to keep on sleeping with his crush, but how could he stop? Keith would be so confused and, dare he think, maybe a bit… hurt… The guy clearly had trust issues so for him to just stop something full of… “trust” (right word would be intimate, but…) it would really mess him up without an explanation, which was something that Lance wouldn’t be able to give him.

 

One thing was telling your crush that you like them, it was another to tell them that you’ve enjoyed cuddling a little bit too much than they should.

 

“Hi,” Keith says as he walks into the room and sends Lance a fond smile that made his heart swell.

 

“Hey Mullet,” Lance says and grins. Keith rolls his eyes but just sits on thei- _his_ bed next to him.

 

“So, you ready to sleep or do you want to talk?” Lance asks and turns to face Keith. Keith looks to the side and bites his lip.

 

He knew he had to talk to Lance, but right now… all he wanted to do was to cuddle with him. Or maybe just stare at his eyes. His soft, ocean-like eyes that he’d be more than happy to drown in. Or maybe his dashing and warm smile that he’d be more than honored to kiss. 

 

“Keith…?” Lance whispers hesitantly. He could tell that Keith was deep in thought and he didn’t exactly want to break his train of thought, whatever it was, but he needed to know if he was going to talk or just think.

 

“Oh. Um, for now just… cuddling.” Keith says and blushes. He was glad that the room was dark, he didn’t want to be questioned for having red cheeks.

 

“Alright,” Lance says in a fond voice that Keith had grown to love.

 

They lay down and Keith kisses Lance’s cheek while blushing. Then Keith puts his head on Lance’s chest. Lance bites back a smile. He wraps his arms around Keith and pulls him close. Keith, like the freaking cat that he is, snuggles up to Lance and hums in satisfaction. Lance looks down at Keith and allows himself to smile. He shouldn’t love this as much as he does, but it cannot be helped. He was… deep in love…

 

There was nothing wrong with it.

 

Being in love…

 

But…

 

This… this _is_ wrong. Holding Keith is wrong. Staring at him as Keith sleeps is wrong. Stroking his hair while he sleeps is wrong. Loving the way Keith unconsciously snuggles up to him is wrong. Enjoying their new kissing cheeks is wrong.

 

Not telling him about this is wrong.

 

He wouldn’t want Lance like this.

 

He wouldn’t want Lance at all…

 

He sighs and closes his eyes. Right now, he was going to ignore these thoughts and tell him tomorrow morning.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter should be the last chapter. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! 
> 
> Tumblr: FabilousFabi


	4. Confessing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance confesses his feelings to Keith.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So this is the last chapter. I hope you all enjoyed the story so far! I enjoyed writing it. Also I am sick so I might write a sic fic after this? Maybe.

Keith groans as he wakes up. He didn’t want to get up. He was so warm and happy. He snuggles up to the warmth and tries to figure out what it is. And there is an arm around his waist. And a thumping in his ear… Oh. Lance. They cuddle. Right.

 

Even though they’ve been doing it for a while, it still doesn’t feel… real. It was amazing, sure, and he absolutely loved it, but… waking up to find out you were cuddling with your crush was hard to grasp.

 

“Are you up?” a voice above him asks and Keith hums in response. He feels the body below him shake and hears a low chuckle. “You really are a cat you know…”

 

“mmm not a cat,” Keith mumbles and looks up at Lance. Lance runs his ran through Keith’s hair and Keith closes his eyes. Lance bites his lip to refrain from smiling.

 

“Sure you’re not. You’re a cat with a mullet,” Lance says and keeps on playing with Keth’s hair.

 

“Shhh… don’t ruin this morning with talking… just go to sleep…” Keith says and grabs Lance’s free hand. He brings Lance’s hand up to his lips and kisses it. Lance blushes but his red cheeks disappear when he looks at the time.

 

“Um… we can’t go back to sleep. We have to go eat breakfast and then train,” Lance says and Keith groans. Lance chuckles.

 

Keith rolls next to Lance and sits up and looks at Lance. Lance sits up and stares back. Lance bites his lip nervously then he kisses Keith’s cheek and if anyone were to look, they’d see a tint of red on his cheeks. Keith smiles shyly and looks down at the sheets.

 

“Alright... well… see you at breakfast?” Keith asks and starts to get out of bed but stops when Lance reaches out and grabs his wrist.

 

“A-actually… I… I um… I wanted… to talk to you about something…” Lance says hesitantly. Keith sits back down and looks at Lance with a curious look on his face.

 

“Alright. What’s up?” Keith asks and is glad there is no panic in his voice.

 

Had Lance figured out that he had a crush on him? Did he no longer want to continue sleeping together? Did the kissing thing make him uncomfortable?

 

“I just… I need you to promise that you won’t hate me for what I’m about to say,” Lance begins nervously.

 

“I would never be able to hate you…” Keith says and Lance frowns.

 

“You don’t know that. Just promise that you won’t hate me after… after I say what im about to say,” Lance says. Keith frowns in concern.

 

“I promise I won’t hate you,” Keith whispers and Lance nods with a little bit of relief. Keith worries even more.

 

“I…” Lance begins and takes a deep breath. He avoids Keiths eyes and twiddles his thumbs “I like you. Not as a friend, but more. I love how compassionate you are. And even though you don’t express it well, I know you care about all of us. And it’s one of the many things I love about you… I could go on and on about the things I love about you, but I’m sure youre more than ready to reject me, so.. that’s it.”

 

Lance closes his eyes and waits. He waits for a pain in cheek. He waits for a shove and the sound of the door closing. He waits for the words of rejection.

 

They don’t come.

 

Instead, he feels something soft being pressed on his lips. He opens his eyes in shock.

 

Keith was kissing him.

 

Keith was kissing.. him?

 

KEITH WAS KISSING HIM.

 

Before Lance can kiss Keith back, he pulls away. Keith was blushing and looking down. He had grabbed Lance’s hand during the kiss and was now holding them.

 

“I… I like you too…” Keith says and glances at Lance.

 

“No way,” Lance immediately says and looks at Keith in disbelief.

 

“I do. Why don’t you believe me?” Keith asks and one could say he was pouting, though he’d never admit it.

 

“Because! I’m Lance! I make jokes and don’t take anything seriously. I’m useless and-“ Keith cuts him off with a kiss and Lance gasps. He pulls away with pink cheeks.

 

“You are important. You are not useless. Sure, you make jokes, but you also take things seriously. You obviously love your family and you want to keep them safe. You don’t show it, but you clearly think about and I think it’s one of the things that keepsyou going. You’re really caring and it shows by the way you take care of all of us. You don’t do it directly, as if you don’t want us to know, even though we do. It’s… cute.” Keith says and scratches the back of his neck nervously. Lance hugs him and closes his eyes.

 

“Thank you…” Lance mumbles. Keith smiles and hugs him back.

 

Lance pulls away and looks down. He blushes.

 

“So, does that mean that… you’ll be my boyfriend?” Lance asks hesistantly. Keith blushes but nods and smiles shyly.

 

“I’d love to be your boyfriend,” Keith says and kisses Lance.

 

“This turned out so much better than I expected,” Lance says and lets out a small laugh. Keith smiles and rolls his eyes.

 

“No kidding. You made me promise not to hate you. Why would I hate you for having a crush on me?” Keith asks and leans against the wall.

 

“Well…” Lance starts and smiles sheepishly “with all the cuddling and the kissing cheeks thing, I’d imagine you’d think I had taken advantage of you.”

 

“Pfft” Keith scoffs and rolls his eyes “If anything, I’m the one taking advantage of you because I’m touch-starved, though it doesn’t feel like I am lately…”

 

“Hmmm. I knew I was amazing. I have cured you with my love,” Lance says and grins.

 

“Love, huh?” Keith says and smiles.

 

“Yup. Now that you’re my boyfriend, I get to kiss you and hug you whenever I want. Oh it’s going to be great!” Lance says excitely. Keith hugs him and pushes him down.

 

Keith pulls the covers over them and looms above Lance. Lance blushes and looks at Keith with shock and curiosity. Keith kisses Lance’s lips. Then his cheeks. Then his temples. And he continues to kiss Lance’s face until Lance is giggling and telling him to stop.

 

“Ah you’re so cute,” Lance says and hugs Keith tightly.

 

“Not as cute as you,” Keith replies and smirks.

 

They end up staying in bed kissing, cuddling, and talking all morning before Shiro goes into Lance’s room and says they have to come to train with the rest of the team.

 

Although Keith and Lance don’t know much about love or time, they do know that they will stay together for as long as they can.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all enjoyed this chapter and the story. 
> 
> Tumblr: FabilousFabi

**Author's Note:**

> Hope you guys enjoyed! I fucking love Touch-Starved Keith. Don't ask me why. I'll post the next chapter soon :)


End file.
